MTN Nigeria, Others Help Stock Market Recover 0.80%

At midweek, bargain-hunting activities dominated as the market participants tried to mop up shares trading at cheaper prices for price appreciation in the coming sessions.

The banking counter gained 0.55 per cent, the consumer goods index appreciated by 0.09 per cent and the industrial goods space improved by 0.01 per cent, while the insurance and energy sectors went down by 0.27 per cent and 0.13 per cent, respectively.

When the bourse closed for the session, the All-Share Index (ASI) was up by 831.91 points to settle at 104,230.73 points compared with Tuesday’s 103,398.82 points and the market capitalisation increased by N508 billion to N63.559 trillion from N63.051 trillion.

MTN Nigeria was the best-performing equity on Customs Street yesterday as its value went up by 10.00 per cent to trade at N220.00, Transcorp also jumped by 10.00 per cent to N49.50, Honeywell Flour rose by 9.95 per cent to N8.29, AIICO Insurance gained 9.94 per cent to N1.88, and Living Trust Mortgage Bank expanded by 9.82 per cent to N4.81.

Conversely, the worst-performing equity was Sunu Assurances after it shed 9.99 per cent to end at N9.01, Universal Insurance declined by 8.97 per cent to 71 Kobo, Secure Electronic Technology depreciated by 68 Kobo, Consolidated Hallmark plunged by 5.82 per cent to N3.40, and C&I Leasing dropped 5.65 per cent to quote at N4.01.

Business Post reports that investor sentiment remained weak on Wednesday as the bourse closed with 27 price gainers and 28 price losers, indicating a negative market breadth index.

A total of 756.4 million stocks valued N24.7 million were transacted in 13,551 deals during the session versus the 1.1 billion stocks sold for N14.6 billion in 16,617 deals a day earlier, representing a leap in the trading value by 69.18 per cent and a cut in the trading volume and number of deals by 31.99 per cent and 18.45 per cent, respectively.

FBN Holdings was still the busiest stock yesterday after selling 125.7 million units valued at N3.6 billion, as Tantalizers traded 82.4 million units worth N195.8 million, Universal Insurance sold 56.6 million units for N40.6 million, AIICO Insurance exchanged 54.3 million units worth N101.1 million, and Chams transacted 33.2 million units valued at N72.5 million.